Thiago Braz Da Silva sent Brazil into pandemonium

IT’S been described as “insane”, “unbelievable” and “the moment of the Games”. One man just became part of Olympics folklore forever.

A Brazilian hero forever.

UNHERALDED Brazilian Thiago Braz Da Silva sent the home crowd wild on Tuesday afternoon (AEST) as he trumped France’s defending Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie to win the men’s pole vault title.

In a thrilling competition, Da Silva won gold with an Olympic record of 6.03m.

After two botched efforts at 6.03 Lavillenie pitched everything on a last-gasp vault at 6.08m, but failed and had to be content with silver with a best of 5.98m.

American Sam Hendricks took bronze with 5.85.

Lavillenie copped the wrath of the Brazilian public as he prepared for his final vault. Obviously barracking for the 22-year-old local, passion spilled over into jeers and boos directed the Frenchman’s way.

Unhappy with the crowd’s behaviour, the 2012 London gold medallist waved his finger in displeasure before giving the camera a thumbs down.

But in the end the parochial Brazilians got what they were after as Lavillenie couldn’t clear the height.

To say everyone in the stadium went absolutely nuts would be an understatement.

UNBELIEVABLE EFFORT: ‘THIS IS INSANE’

Da Silva was thrilled to have cleared six metres for the first time in his life.

Speaking after his epic performance, he said he had to try and forget an entire stadium was cheering for him, but was grateful he had that support behind him.

“The gold? Incredible. My first time over six metres. My home town wanted me to win,” he said.

“The crowd was cheering me too much. I had to fix my mind on my technique and forget the people.”

Former Olympic gold medallist in the pole vault Steve Hooker said he was privileged to have witnessed such an incredible moment in Olympic history.

The vault he’ll remember for the rest of his life.

“It’s unbelievable. This will be the moment of the Olympic Games for Brazil,” Hooker said on Channel 7.

“He took on the guy that I think is the best that has ever been and beat him when he was at his best.

“It was exceptional, an unbelievable effort.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen anything like this in the Olympics competition in the pole vault before.

“I saw him as a medallist but I didn’t see him as the champion, this is insane.

“The energy in the stadium was incredible.”

BBC sports writer Tom Fordyce said the winning vault was “the moment these Olympic Games have been waiting for”.

Gold for Brazil's Thiago Braz Da Silva. People in the stands crying. That might just be the moment these Olympic Games have been waiting for

— tomfordyce (@tomfordyce) August 16, 2016

LAVILLENIE’S FURY: ‘IT’S UGLY TO SEE’

Renaud Lavillenie was more than a tad salty.

For every feel good story, there’s often someone in the background left feeling sick in the stomach. In this case that someone is defending Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie.

The current world record holder was furious with the treatment he copped at the hands — and voices — of Brazilians inside the athletics stadium.

Brazil and France have quite a rivalry — you can blame the French beating the Brazilians in the 1998 football World Cup final for that — and it was clear Da Silva’s supporters had no sympathy whatsoever for the Frenchman as he prepared for what turned out to be his final vault.

An angry Lavillenie compared the taunts he copped to the reception that greeted sprinter Jesse Owens when he arrived in Berlin for the 1936 Olympics held when Hitler was in power.

“There was no fair play from the public,” Lavillenie was quoted as saying by the Rio Olympics’ official news service. “It (the booing) is for football, not for track and field.

“In 1936 the crowd was against Jesse Owens. We’ve not seen this since. We have to deal with it.

“For the Olympics it is not a good image. I did nothing to the Brazilians.”

He was also quoted by France’s BFM TV as saying he had never experienced this type of booing in 10 years of competing.

“It’s the first time in 10 years competing at the highest level of this sport that I’ve been booed.

“And in an Olympic stadium where there are normally values of respect and fair play, there wasn’t a single ounce of respect for Thiago’s competitors.

“There were 40,000 people against me. It’s ugly to see that in one of the biggest competitions of your career.”

He made it clear he didn’t lose because of what was going on in the crowd, but said people needed to realise it takes a lot out of an athlete to deal with such a negative situation.

“Unfortunately, this is an atmosphere that we find too often in football when Brazil play France. I’ve paid the consequences for it,” Lavillenie said.

“That’s not why I lost, but it’s necessary to be conscience of the fact it takes enormous energy to concentrate when you’re being booed, especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.”

WHAT’S THIAGO DONE BEFORE RIO?

Nobody can ever take his gold away from him.

It was simply an amazing feat by Da Silva, who had never before won a medal in a senior global competition.

His biggest claim to fame until this point in his (still relatively short) career was winning the 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships with a vault of 5.55m, but his performances at major competitions in the years following didn’t exactly inspire confidence.

He finished 19th at the 2015 World Championships and in March this year he could only scrape together a performance worthy of 12th at the IAAF World Indoor Championships with a best of 5.55m — hardly a showing that bode well for these Games.

In fact, his previous personal best was 5.93m — a whopping 10cm below what he managed to vault on Tuesday.

But if you’re ever going to absolutely smash a PB, then once every four years at the biggest sporting showpiece on the planet is the time to do it.

It’s what the Olympics are about. Seeing someone come from nowhere to achieve something that most people assume is beyond them. And it was made even sweeter this time around that it was done by a Brazilian.

Da Silva’s winning height of 6.03m saw him record the best outdoor performance by a pole vaulter since 2008, but not everything went smoothly for the Brazilian.

He failed his first attempt at 5.75m then struggled again before eventually clearing 5.93m. He passed on 5.98m before going on to send the home fans into raptures with a vault that won’t be forgotten anytime soon.

— with AFP

Originally published as Thiago Braz Da Silva sent Brazil into pandemonium